Whatever Happened To The Boy Wonder?
by John Michael Kane
Summary: The very last story of Dick Grayson and the Bat family in the old DCU :a final goodbye to the characters we knew and loved so well.A murder/horror mystery that rips the family apart and stretches it to breaking point .There will be death(s).Rated T for violence,language and mild sexual content. Chapter 2 now up. Please review and comment!
1. Chapter 1

Whatever Happened To The Boy Wonder?

Note:_Like many I was far from satisfied by the sudden events of Flashpoint that brought an end to The DC Universe we knew and loved so well. This is my attempt to give my favourite characters the endings they deserve and not the pile of dogcrap which was thrust down our throats. Hopefully most of you will like this version more.._

_We begin with Nightwing ,my personal favourite character since the days when a young boy sat down in front of the TV screen and watched Robin's Reckoning from Batman TAS and instantly found his hero in the sunless streets of BTAS's Gotham .I've been through Dixon's great run ,I've been through Devin Grayson's garbage and Tomasi's All Star Run .I watched Morrison turn him to Batman and I watched Snyder turn him to something more. Its been an emotional ride with many lows and a few ups ,here I hope to provide an ending worthy of the Boy Wonder, The Knight in Bludhaven, The Leader of the Teen Titans and A Hero till the end, Dick Grayson. _

* * *

**PROLOGUE**

I couldn't see. That was the first thing I thought as I tried to pull myself up from the concrete somehow, someway. The pain was blinding now and I could vaguely feel warm blood dripping down from my face even in the freezing downpour. I gently moved my hands over my jaw line and felt it again, the ugly broken fissure where there should have been bone. A bullet had passed through it not so long ago. How, why...I couldn't remember .I felt it again and this time I felt the bruises .Even through the Kevlar, I could feel each swelling, each blemish over the once silken skin. And something more...my stomach...no, don't think about _that..._ignore it..

"Well its been a pretty entertaining, kid. I don't know about you but damn, its been a great _workout _for me... Pity we gotta end this party now but we've had a great run ,you and me. You know this is nothing personal. At the end of the day,its just good business. I gotta do what I gotta do and you...well you're just _collateral damage_..."

Gotta slow the bloodflow somehow...something anything. A double fingered _Katisi _grip...learnt in the wastelands of Mongolia from a poppy farmer...balance the flow...make the incision..I ripped off my gloves now, they were useless anyway ...made the incision with my last batarang, felt warm blood gush over my numb fingers...so numb...so cold...

"...be grateful I don't have more time ,boy...oh yes, I remember every single time you ripped apart my life ,every single time you ripped apart my _family..._

THIS IS FOR ROSE!"

Something passed through my left leg. A bullet maybe, yes probably...I could barely feel it though...I could barely feel anything anymore...hold on..the batarang...

"Still fighting? What's left to fight for kid? The city's dead, the war's over, we won. Lets assume you get out of here somehow, someway, what exactly are you going to do? There's nothing and no one left to save..."

One last batarang...

"BATMAN IS DEAD!"

Throw it from the dark side...

"What are YOU going to do that _he _couldn't? Are you going to avenge his death?"

The light flickered one last time and lit up the battered sign...Park Row...Crime Alley..how fitting

"Or are you going to avenge the ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND miserable ,poverty stricken excuses for human beings that I KILLED in Bludhaven?"

"You're wrong."

"I'm sorry?"

"I said you're wrong you bastard! Batman is still alive!"

"What the...ah I see. Haemorrhage. Sad really. I'd have liked you to be coherent when this happened .I'd have liked you to know that in the end, for once..._this was personal."_

I could hear his footsteps now. I could make out the outline of a man approaching. Approaching for the kill.

I threw the last batarang. Slade fired.

* * *

**CHAPTER 1:THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST **

"What exactly did you say, Damian ?"

"Yes ,Mr Wayne ,could you please care to repeat what you said to Miss Ellingham here?"

"I told her the day I wanted a friend like her, I'd just have myself a little squat and sh..."

"That's enough, Mr Wayne!"

"...one out."

The little girl with the tight plait started bawling again, Principal Hawkins tried his best to maintain a stern expression and I cursed myself for the umpteenth time for introducing him to R-Rated American movies.

"Now Mr Grayson I know Damian has been homeschooled for most of his life but this _level _of anti-social behaviour is _unheard of. _This is the 4th such incident this week when a child has approached him extending the hand of friendship and Master Damian has...well _rebuked _their efforts rather _vehemently..."_

"I'm surrounded by morons and _children."_

"Yes quite. You see Mr Grayson ,I believe this outward hostility is rooted in deep seated insecurities stemming from the absence of a _parent figure..._"

"My father owns the school. You better _hope _he's absent when I get home or come tomorrow he's gonna fire your a..."

"That's enough Dami."

"Yes his ...I'm sorry, _your _father provides a lavish and comfortable lifestyle, but does he provide the warmth and love of a normal parent?"

"You better watch where this is going fat man..."

"Quiet. Please continue Mr Hawkins."

"And I don't even _need_ to go to the absence of the mother..."

Huh. His mother. Nice person. Totally.

"Which is why I called you. By all accounts he is extremely close to you. The few times he does open up in class, he talks about his _fictional _adventures with 'Grayson' .Full of strange lands and _supervillains. _Time travel too would you believe it. Very entertaining..."

"Very."Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Dami smirking for the first time today.

"By all accounts, you're a well reputed fellow. Stint as a cop too I hear. Worked as a curator. A normal ,grounded fellow like the rest of us. Trying to be his own man. I like that. I like that..."

"Get to the point Mr Hawkins.."  
"What I'm trying to say is I believe you should take a stronger interest in young Mr Wayne's life. Take him out to the local playground. Join the minor league. Meet other kids. Make him be a _kid _for a change."  
"Well I'm sure Bruce can..."

"With all due respect Mr Grayson, there was a reason you were called. Mr Wayne may indeed own the school and yes he can fire me, but the first duty he gave me as the Principal of the school was to educate Master Damian _at whatever cost ._He told me to make no exceptions ,grant no favours, just _educate him. _There are many layers to the word ,Mr Grayson. For some .the word just means 'make sure he's top of the class.' Well Damian already is top of his class. But that's not all there is to education, is it?"

I looked at Dami studiously ignoring us both as he attempted to snare a fly with a _paper clip._

"Have you spoken to Bruce...?"

"Mr Wayne did indeed speak to us and promised to get in some quality time with his son after he gets back from South Africa...in four months time."

South Africa. Leviathan again.

"Very well. I'll see what I can do. Come on Dami!"

Damian jumped at my voice and missed his target, the clip hit Mr Hawkins coffee mug, spilling the contents over the Principal's table and over what appeared to be a photo of his wife. Man was she ugly.

"Man is she ugly!"Damian exclaimed loudly pointing rather unnecessarily at the table.

* * *

"3 weeks suspension? And all for stating a fact!"

"Don't be ridiculous. Its the behaviour that went _before _the statement of questionable fact."

"A. You were thinking it too and B. what behaviour?"

"C'mon Dami is it really necessary to go around picking on kids just because they are_ kids?"_

"What? I didn't go around picking on anybody! Its those autistic morons who approached me to mentally torture me with their nonsensical childish babbling! Any and all actions following said approach was due to the instinctive defense mechanism of my body to resist any attempt to _lobotomize me."_

"First of all, autism: not cool. Secondly _lobotomize you? _Seriously?"

"Unquestionably. This one guy literally turned me catatonic with one hour of babbling jargon about some retarded anime show about a boy named _Ketchup _and his toy mouse who battle other rodents and plants. He even showed some _poko balls and trading cards ._After an hour listening to his spiel I told him to shove the rubbish into the nearest thrash can and get the hell out of my face before I permanently incapacitated him and took the decision out of his hands."

"Now I know you're just using big words."

We were sitting by the lake now. As a kid ,when the Circus came to town ,I had heard many stories about the Haunted Lake of Evert Street. An old graveyard in the North Bank was probably the source of the legend. There were rumours of a Gallows where now the old boathouse stood. The lake was supposed to be the only place in Gotham where even Falcone's men feared to tread. An ancient legend, speaking of a Dark Avenger of the lake. Of course very soon, all other legends of Gotham were put to rest by the appearance of a whole new Dark Avenger.

It was always beautiful in the sunset. Not many people around either. The Old City was already shimmering to our right, barely visible anymore .Soon the lake would be covered by mist, swallowed by the relentless hunger of the creature that was Gotham at night. See there is something peculiar about this city, my city. It lies still like a beast stalking its prey. You never know when it will strike. During the day ,it sleeps an unrestful sleep, fidgeting and turning, with each turn the beast strikes a death blow. However it as at night that Gotham is a whole new creature, awake calculating, looking for its next prey. The dark in Gotham is not like the dark of any other city, it suffocates you torments you and shows you your worst, most animalistic inner nature. Maybe that is why we see psychos popping up here like Angelina Jolie adopting kids. In no other city would the concept of a Dark Knight have worked, here the fear is already present, you just need something to bring it out. Maybe it is the brutal ,bloodstained history, even before the Depression, Gotham had an evil name. Maybe it was because of the atrocities that were committed in Depression-Era Gotham, where riots were more common than wages and there were particularly nasty rumours of women and children being slaughtered for food if they went out alone at night. Maybe the final blow was the death of the Waynes themselves trying desperately to expand wealth equally and break the morbid air of doom hanging over the city. With the death of the Waynes, the rich boarded themselves up in the posh Inner Districts and South Mayfair, surrounded on all sides by the seven ghettos and the Roman's Territory, the worst of which was surely the East End.

In Bruce's time there had been changes. There were only 2 ghettos left now. The Roman was dead and his territories were contested by local gangs, powerful enough to slug it out with each other and ensure no one got more...not strong enough to challenge the authority of the one, true ruler of Gotham: The Dark Knight.

And yet...I can't help shake off the feeling that we are all just pawns on a giant chessboard, even Bruce. The City is something Ancient, something Evil from before our time, it tolerates and watches amused at our efforts to alter its true nature, It tolerates us and like the Great Beast, waits for its moment to strike.

"Are you even listening to me ,Grayson?"

"Mmm ..what Dami?"

"I said we should stop by that stupid cow Stephanie and plan out the routes tonight. Oracle will be there."

"Babs? Well i dunno..."

"Oh come on...get over your personal issues already! _Women. _Never get married Watson ,it saps the intellect."

"Oh wait ,_I'm _Watson now?"

"What do you mean _now_?"

I'd had a good day with Dami. We had lunch at my old school hangout where Damian had promptly announced after having a chocolate milkshake that if he wanted to drink rat's piss in a restaurant he would have asked Stephanie to come along. Delightful day as I said.

Dusk was already giving way to the night.I knew I should have spoken to Damian about his school but right now ,it was all too perfect. Just me and Dami. Two brothers chilling together .If only Tim were here. Last I heard he was supposed to be back today from his Top Secret(and that's Top with capital T) Mission for Bruce in Europe as part of Batman Inc. And that's why we were meeting at Steph's and not at the Batcave. Tim and Steph, well its complicated but I think they're getting serious this time. Tim's sorta moved in with Steph in the last few weeks. But if Barbara was gonna be there too...

"Ah what the hell. I'm coming in a moment. Start the car."

"Wow Grayson, you just gave me the keys to your car?"

"Just start it."

I took one last look at the lake ,taking it all in as the last vestiges of its beauty were swallowed up by the overwhelming darkness...something red..

"Damian! Get down here! There's something in the water! I think its a person. Oh my God..."

The body was drifting closer now. One thing I was sure of. It hadn't been there two minutes ago, before my exchange with Dami. Someone had purposely put a body in the lake in the last two minutes.

"Damian check the perimeter. See what you can find. Check if there's anyone new in the area. There was the old couple, the junkie,..."

"The skinhead, The two families, the woman in green and those three teenagers. Got it"

"Good .I'm jumping in now. Contact Babs. Go, go, go now!"

I dived into the icy cold water. For a few seconds ,my whole body went numb and the Beast sensed its prey .A violent tug from the bottom drove the wind out of my lungs. This was a lake ,by all accounts there should have been no problem other than the cold. And yet something pulled at me, wildly trying to snuff out the life that it held. I pushed with all my force. Something around my ankles snapped and I swam away with a weed still wrapped around it .The Beast had failed but now it was waiting for another chance, another moment of weakness.

I dragged the body away from the deep end, there was something vaguely familiar about it...the red..no time to think now .The Darkness was suddenly all around me out of nowhere...The Beast sensed blood...

I came up panting on the shore. The body was old .At least a day old. Stored in a wooden casket from the smell. And deposited here this very evening a few moments ago. Why?It made no sense. There had been several people around when the body first appeared. And even though they had refused to help, they had seen me jump in. The old couple had even helped me drag it up. What was the motive? Surely a better time and a better place could be used for disposing off a body. And then I saw his face.

It was Tim Drake. Red Robin

There was a note attached to his suit.

_You're next._

Suddenly I heard a scream.

It was Damian.

The Beast had struck.

_So guys this was my first attempt at a fan fic and I'd really like some comments and reviews and tell me how was it and where I went wrong ,please view it many,many times so I can write the second chapter double fast!_


	2. Chapter 2

**WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE BOY WONDER?**

**NOTE: **_Thanks for the reviews and suggestions guys! I couldn't have finished this so fast without you people egging me on! Here's hoping I can keep up the pace! This chapter may frustrate some. It involves some rather experimental methods of storytelling( for me). For those of you who might be confused, the story is entirely from Dick Grayson' s POV (including the 3 years ago part) except for the entries from Bruce Wayne's journal. As always any review or comment is appreciated and constructive criticism welcomed._

**CHAPTER 2: DUALITY**

**FROM THE JOURNAL OF BRUCE WAYNE **

_**MARCH 11, 1987: **__Gone wrong. All gone so wrong.._

_Father... I'm afraid I may have to __**die**__ tonight.._

_I've tried to be patient, I've tried to wait._

_But I have to know._

_How , father? How do I do it?_

_What do I use ...to make them __**afraid**__?_

_If I ring this bell, Alfred will come. He can stop the __**bleeding**__ in time. Another of your gifts to me, father..._

_I have wealth. The family manor rests over a __**huge cave**__ that will be the perfect headquarters...even a butler with training in combat medicine..._

_Yes father. I have everything __but __**patience.**_

_I'd rather __**die**__ than wait another hour...I've waited eighteen years..._

_Eighteen years since Zorro...The Mask of Zorro. _

_Since that walk._

_That night._

_And the man with frightened hollowed eyes...and a voice like glass being crushed..._

_Since all sense left my life._

_I'd rather die than wait another hour..._

_My hands shake now...blood smudges out the words..._

_A crash.._

_And now I see it. Without warning it came...crashing through the window of your study...and mine_

_I have seen it before...somewhere...it __**frightened **__me as a boy..._

_**Frightened**__ me..._

_The Great Beast._

_Yes father._

_I shall become a bat._

* * *

**3 YEARS AGO:EAST TIBETAN HIGHLANDS**

The icy wind tore at my body through the tattered cloak. The sun was all but a myth in the misty skies. There was a howling emanating from everywhere and nowhere , whether it was the wind or something more sinister, I could not tell. My fingers were numb around the old staff and yet I clutched it all the more frenetically with each new step. Somewhere along the long journey, I'd ceased to be the master. Now I desperately held on to it , clutching it like a baby clinging to its mother.

The old man at the edge of the glade peered curiously at me. Perhaps he had never seen a white man before.

"_Tashi delek_ , stranger."

" _Tashi delek_."

" The road ends here. Beyond is only the Darkness."

" And that is where I must go."

The man looked puzzled, perhaps he felt he had not made himself clear.

"You do not understand. There is nothing beyond the glade. The Land of the Living ends here."

"And yet I've travelled long and far. This is the road I must walk."

The old man looked troubled at my words.

" You too seek the Old Monastery then."

You _too_?

"Who else came before me ,_po-la_ ?

" There was another like you, not two days ago. He too came from afar seeking the Old Legend. His face was heavily covered by a cloth but it was easy enough to tell even without his strange, halting accent that he wasn't from around here."

A man unwilling to reveal his identity. Already ahead of me by two days. _Somebody_ _knew_.

" How come nobody at the village told me this?"

" They didn't know. Only I ,living out here at the edge of the Darkness saw him pass. He spoke little and answered even less. And like you, he would not be dissuaded from taking the path to his doom."

I pondered over this. The path through the village was the only road known in these wild and untamed moors. Out in the wild the cold was fatal and the terrain uncertain. A misstep in the dark would cost a life. There were strange beasts and stranger men who wandered through these highlands. Anyone willing to take such a risk , willing to risk all in search of a legend, a myth was either foolish or desperate. A dangerous opponent in other words. The game was afoot.

"It is inauspicious, I say. For seventy years, the legend lay dead and now within days of each other, _two_ men from strange lands come seeking death and destruction."

I awoke from my reverie with a start. The old man was still speaking.

" I remember the first stranger who came through these lands, many ,many years ago. I was a young boy then, younger than my son's son now. He took spoke of the Ancient Legend, of the Great Evil beyond the Valley. "

Helmut Kahn. German explorer. Missing for 73 years. Presumed dead. Cause of death: unknown. Only recently had Bruce tracked him down to Tibet.

" Of course the village folk warned him, and of course he laughed them off. Like you and the man before you, The Men of the West do not believe in the legends of Tibet. They seek them yes, seeking them as an adventure , an experiment to be marvelled at ,and then proved wrong by science."

I had been wrong. The old man had seen many things already. Somehow he exhibited knowledge beyond his means.

"I would have liked him to live, you know. So many years and I still remember the bearded man with the yellow hair. He was very nice to the children of the village. In the afternoons, he used to give us sweets for free near the Old Road. Sweets like I had never tasted before."

How old was the old man? It was the hard to tell. His sunburned skin was wrinkled beyond recognition but his eyes still lit up and the corners of his mouth crinkled when he smiled, as he did now.

" It was the time of the Great War and though only rumour of it came to these remote corners, I recall how friendly the man was to everybody, as if deliberately trying to make up for all the carnage the White Man brought to the East."

Again the old man surprised me with his perceptibility. Kahn was indeed a vocal critic of the Nazi regime , so much so that his death nearly seventy five years ago was still thought to be a silent assassination by the SS. It was not. Kahn had fled the country two years previously and taken asylum in British India.

" What happened to him?" I asked , though I already knew.

" He never came back." The old man said simply.

"I'm sorry ."I said looking at his sad eyes as he recalled the kind man with the sweets who had passed into the Darkness and never come back.

It was getting late. The shadows of the trees were already stretching over the glade.

"Will you not listen to reason?" The old man beseeched one last time, his face darkened by shadows now.

" I have made up my mind _Po-la_, I must seek what lies beyond the Darkness of the Valley."

" The Valley is an evil place. The Forest is ancient and its Darkness impenetrable, the streams run dark with water corrupted by the blackened earth. The trees have roots that run deep. They are old and twisted, they do not tolerate trespassers. And there are rumours, rumours yes of something far worse, a dark guardian, a _phantom_ of the forest...Many men have found their way into the forest, few have ever come out..."

The pale light of the sunless skies was gone now. Mists swirled around us as we talked. The howling had stopped now. The silence was suddenly deafening, I almost longed for the roaring again.

"_The Valley of Shadows_ is a Darkness that breathes. It has a mind of its own, it will crush your mind and grind your spirit. The Valley is evil ,yes but what lies beyond...we dare not speak of it.."

"I must go now, _Po-la_ . The hour grows dark."

The old man looked at me with despair. Perhaps he had hoped persuade me to quit. Suddenly he forced himself to speak. As if with great pain, he mumbled in a broken voice:

"..._The Devil in Man's Flesh_...please you must listen..."

I heard him only faintly over the returning wind. I was already walking into the darkness.

* * *

**NOW: GOTHAM CITY**

"Damian!"

I was shaking all over as I screamed. Two minutes ago, I had found the body of my brother, Tim Drake, Red Robin. Barely two seconds ago I had heard my other brother Damian scream for his life.

I was stunned ,unable to react, incoherent. I couldn't leave Tim but...but I _had_ to save Dami...I couldn't lose him too...

"Please look after the body. Please I'm begging you...please this is my _brother_ ...", I was mumbling incoherently now desperately begging the old couple for help.

"We...we'll stay right here..." The old lady said softly.

I barely heard her, I was already running towards the sound of Damian's scream, zeroing in on the possible location.

Evert Road had once been a prosperous locality expanding rapidly under the Waynes' social equity schemes. The death of the Waynes had struck the death blow to this once booming neighbourhood. Evert Road itself had splintered off into a number of branch roads and alleys. Damian's scream had come from towards the left of the Main Road . A number of broken alleys splintered off to the left. Most with dead ends. I could climb the roofs to scan out the region. It was dark enough to pull it off without the suit. But the _enemy_ already knew that. They would expect me to come swinging in from the roofs. They already knew me. '_You're next'._

I had to do the unexpected. I had to come in from the ground. Damian couldn't have taken the alleys with the dead ends. _He_ thought they were trying to escape. He would have checked the alleys going _out_ first. That only left two choices. Berkley Road was the shorter route out. Dami would have checked that first. It had taken him approximately two minutes to scream. He had surely finished checking the first route by then. That left only one choice.

I burst through three shop windows and hit a solid brick wall as I tumbled out on Frank Miller St. The first man had already fired two shots before he realised I wasn't even there. The crack of his jaw would have made me stop and wisecrack another day but today I was already swinging at the second man. The third caught me in the shoulder with a bullet before I cracked his shin with a leg sweep. The fourth and fifth lost ribs .How many I didn't care.

"STOP!"

That voice...no...

"Stop or the kid dies!"

A man came moving out of the shadow holding a gun to Damian's head. A man in a trenchcoat.

"No..."

* * *

**3 YEARS AGO:EAST TIBETAN HIGHLANDS**

It didn't take me too long to realise why the local villagers called it _The Valley of Shadows. _The old man hadn't been lying when he had said the Darkness had a life of its own. The first night, I couldn't see my hands in front of me as I walked. The pale beam of the flashlight flickered weakly as it tried to compete with the raging Darkness suffocating it. All around me the mists seemed to well up with supernatural power, swirling to cover me, consume me as I invaded their ancient home. I could see nothing behind me, nothing in front . Only the few feet of trampled earth ,cleared by the flickering light were made visible to my squinting eyes. Every time I walked the Darkness parted reluctantly, grudgingly, wielding to my presence before attacking again with renewed vigour. All around me the air seemed to crackle with energies I could not understand, powers I could not comprehend. I felt choked in the claustrophobic dark, yearning for light. I had felt fear before but this was something different. Something more ancient. Almost like _Gotham_.

The day brought no comfort with it. A sickly malevolent light filtered through nearly impenetrable canopies .If possible, this was even more nauseating than the dark.

The trees themselves were surprising in their density. The growth in places was impenetrable. An overpowering, putrid smell of rotting branches and fruits emanated from blackened spawn of seeds planted in some ancient age. Every step that I took was hindered by gnarled undergrowth and broken boughs. The damp ,swampy ground was hardly a comfort either. Each step I took dragged me under, testing my already crumbling resolve, probing for a weakness. Mosquitoes attacked any patch of skin that was uncovered, the repellent I' d brought seemed only to incite them to strike more viciously. Making a fire was out of question, the wood was damp even in the highest branches and the few fires I'd managed to make seemed only to attract more flies.

But it wasn't the dark, or the flies or the smell that disturbed me most. It was the feeling of being _watched_ by something or someone in the dark. I was aware of a subconscious _feeling_ of eyes on my back every time I walked, every time I moved. Something observing my every move, watching and waiting for a mistake. Even by the first night I knew I could not afford any.

* * *

On the sixth day, I met the Beast. I _felt_, rather than saw anything. Something moving behind me with inhuman pace. I turned almost instinctively, which probably saved my life . My flashlight must have blinded it, It leaped aside snarling. A panther with skin the colour of the night. Unusual. Panthers were not found in Tibet. My flashlight had blinded it for a moment. Only for a moment. It leaped again moving far too fast for a human to keep up. I somersaulted blindly. Something grazed me. The beast had missed its mark. I landed behind its back. The beast was blindsided momentarily. I had an advantage here, just for a second.

I remembered a fight, so long ago now... A woman with claws... A cat...An alley of feline carnivores leaping to assault me...Catwoman and her legions...Bruce studying extensively the anatomy of a cat...studying its _weakest points_...

I struck with blinding speed at the seven nearest nerve clusters. The beast roared in agony. One more blow...

I had underestimated its strength...a blur of black and then the smell...the hot sickening smell of what must surely be death...claws ripping through my jacket now...a yawning maw moving in for the kill now...this would be a good death...

Not good enough.

I summoned every last ounce of my strength and kicked off 200 pounds of panther from my body. We both rolled over ,it leaped again but this time I was ready. I swiped my leg violently into its gut. The force of my blow, coupled with its own momentum cowed the beast as it fell over mewling in agony. I had an advantage now . Got to make it count...

The first thing I learnt from Bruce was to use everything in the environment in a fight. It rampaged through several broken branches with murderous intent . I smashed a rock the size of a bladder into its skull. I moved into the thickest part of the foliage . Every thorn and jagged branch was my weapon now. Two legs moved better in the thicket than four. My boots were knitted with thorns already. The panther couldn't have been better off. Two legs were more useful than four here. And me, I was _magic_ on two.

I climbed the rotting tree faster than any human, using every hold available . My limbs were bruised ...my hands bleeding, but I could not stop. Not now when I was so close ...

A white hot pain in my calf...blinding me..

I broke off another branch and slashed it through the eye of the beast...it refused to let go...fangs sunk in my calf...cannot breathe...

I pulled us both up to another branch and hit the beast again...this time it let go..

The branch crumbled now under our weight...

The panther crashed headfirst into a heap of broken branches. I landed on my feet.

Taekwondo is a martial art heavily reliant on powerful kicking. The trick is to get a low centre of gravity to start with.

My leg...bleeding...ignore it...

The beast flailed in the branches...struggling to rise...

My leg was already sweeping a devastating arc through the air as it rose. I already knew I'd cleave the tree in half even before I struck the blow.

The beast rose...and was pulled down by the mud again...

Taekwondo is an art heavily reliant on powerful kicking. _Komodo_ is an extension of this art. Taught to Bruce by an ancient hermit in the volcanic islands of Indonesia, it mimicked the movements of a _Komodo Dragon _moving in for the kill. Here the emphasis was less on the power of the kick and more on the buildup _before_ it...

CRASH!

The tree fell down with a creaking groan ,sending hundreds of night fowl scampering...

A strange bird with jagged claws flew out in the moonlight.

Not a bird. A bat.

The panther moved once under the tree. Then silence.

The battle was over.

I moved over towards the beast crushed under the great weight. It was alive and its eyes burned with an unnatural hate.

Suddenly shots rang out through the silence of the night.

The beast moved once in pain then no more.

A man in a trenchcoat. His face heavily covered with a cloth.

"Hello kid. Surprised to see me?"

* * *

**NOW: GOTHAM CITY**

"Hello kid. Surprised to see me?"

No...no ..not him...

"Why?"

" What do you mean why, Mr Grayson ...or should I say _Batman_?"

No...how could he know...impossible..

" Red in the water. Blood in the water. Water and blood. The sunset hour. Dusk. Neither day nor night. Two Robins . And one that is neither. Two alleys. A body in the river and another in the street. The lake and the darkness. Beauty and the Beast. I'm almost disappointed that you couldn't figure this out. Duality. Everywhere. All around you. Look at Evert Street. Once poor, then rich ,then poor again. The unforgiving city. Beauty _always _comes with the Beast. _Two_ minutes ago, sheer joy for you. _Two_ moments ago sheer terror. Do you really think I would have turned down something so _perfect_ in its duality when he offered it to me?"

He wasn't making any sense . But I didn't care about that now. Surely Damian had managed to contact Babs before his capture. I _had _to play for time...

" Who's _he_?"

" _Crimson_." He said .As if that explained everything.

This was beyond madness now ...even for _him_...had to play for time...keep him talking...

"_Please_...please don't do this...don't kill him...he's only a child..."

" Who said anything about killing _him_ ?"

And then it hit me.

_You're next._

Around me, more henchmen were gathering. Guns aimed at my face.

_Help was on its way...play for time.. _

" Damnit Harvey...don't do this...flip a coin ...FLIP THE COIN ,DAMN YOU!"

Harvey Dent looked at me coldly with both eyes: one a beautiful shade of warm brown, the other burning black with the flames of hell.

He took out the coin.

"FLIP THE COIN!"

I think we were all still looking at it spinning up when the bullet ripped past my throat.

* * *

**FROM THE JOURNAL OF BRUCE WAYNE **

_**September 17,1988**__: Commissioner Loeb was finally incarcerated today after a year long trial. Jim says he won't last too long in the joint, he had let down far too many people in there to survive too long. Maybe he's right. I think every one of us knows it now that it is done . This is not imprisonment. This is a death sentence. Me, Jim and especially Harvey. I think in our heart of hearts we all know exactly what fate awaits him in there, and yet we choose to ignore it. Jim deliberately refuses to acknowledge it publically and I...I console myself by telling myself that this is only the law at work. Nothing I can do about it. Nothing I should do about it. An evil fate for an evil man. _

_Harvey has none of our qualms. He agrees whole heartedly with the law. He feels he has taken revenge for the many years he was stuck as an Assistant Attorney because of Loeb. No, that's not it...that's just me trying to paint the world in grey...when sometimes it is so clearly black and white. Harvey Dent is taking the revenge of the citizens of Gotham on a dictator who ruled with so cruel an authority. Harvey Dent is not afraid to take responsibility for the citizens, even for the death of another man. Dent is all I dare not be. He's Gotham's White Knight._

_And yet I cannot completely abhor the cruel streak in a man otherwise so complete. I've seen it too many times now for me to put it down to my imagination. Almost as if there is __**a beast**__ within him...struggling to break free. I would not want Harvey Dent as my enemy. He would be the most dangerous of them all._

_**Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde**__...why did I write that..?_

_I don't know...perhaps the __**Joker'**__s poisons are muddling my mind again..._

_Must get my mind off things._

_Oh good. Alfred bought tickets for the circus._

* * *

_So how was it? Please review and comment!_


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